Cartina
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from the French word "carte" meaning "map".
Name Census estimates that about 94 living Americans carry the first name Cartina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cartina today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cartina births was 1972 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cartina. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cartina. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
94
~ 1 in 3,646,323 Americans
Peak year
1972
34 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
1995 SSA rank
#12,034
Tracked since 1969
Census
Cartina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 144 people with the first name Cartina, which placed it at #46,371 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#46,371
National first-name rank
People counted
144
144 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cartina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cartina is Black at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cartina described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cartina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.6% · 106
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.9% · 10
- White4.9% · 7
- Two or more races2.1% · 3
Popularity
Cartina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cartina from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 93 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cartina by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cartina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cartina
The name Cartina has its origins in the ancient Etruscan civilization that flourished in central Italy from around the 8th century BCE until its assimilation into the Roman Republic in the late 4th century BCE. The name is derived from the Etruscan word "cartin," which means "small map" or "small chart." This connection to maps and charting suggests that the name may have been associated with navigators, explorers, or cartographers in ancient Etruscan society.
One of the earliest known references to the name Cartina can be found in the Etruscan inscriptions discovered in the necropolis of Cerveteri, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located near the modern-day town of Cerveteri, Italy. These inscriptions, dating back to the 6th century BCE, contain several instances of the name Cartina, indicating its usage among the Etruscan nobility and elite classes.
During the Roman era, the name Cartina appeared in various historical records and documents, although its usage was relatively limited. One notable individual who bore this name was Cartina Claudia, a Roman noblewoman who lived in the 1st century CE and was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of various cultural initiatives in the city of Rome.
As the influence of the Roman Empire spread across Europe and the Mediterranean, the name Cartina found its way into other cultures and languages. In the Middle Ages, there are records of individuals named Cartina in France, Spain, and Italy, although the name remained relatively uncommon.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Cartina was the Italian artist and cartographer Cartina Vespucci, who lived from 1454 to 1512. She was a skilled mapmaker and is credited with creating some of the most accurate and detailed maps of her time, contributing significantly to the advancement of cartography and navigation.
Another notable figure was Cartina Bianchi, an Italian mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1590 to 1668. She made important contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the motion of celestial bodies, and her work was highly regarded by her contemporaries.
In the 18th century, the name Cartina gained some popularity in the German-speaking regions of Europe. One notable individual with this name was Cartina von Humboldt, a German naturalist and explorer who lived from 1769 to 1859. She was known for her extensive travels throughout South America and her contributions to the fields of geography, biology, and ethnography.
While the name Cartina has largely fallen out of common usage in modern times, it remains an intriguing and historically significant name with connections to the ancient Etruscan civilization, cartography, exploration, and the pursuit of knowledge.
People
Cartina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cartina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cartina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cartina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 94 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cartina going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,646,323 US residents.
Is Cartina a common name?
We classify Cartina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 104 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cartina most popular?
The single biggest year for Cartina was 1972, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cartina is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cartina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 144 people with the name Cartina, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,371 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cartina in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cartina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cartina appears almost entirely female. Of the 136 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cartina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cartina is Black at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cartina most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Cartina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.6% (106 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cartina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cartina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cartina in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cartina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cartina in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cartina can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Cartina?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.